Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Bring on the Locusts

I feel a bit like Job in his trials. When Sean called today with the latest of things to break, die, go wrong and cost us money, I had tears streaming down my face listening to him. Well past crying, I was nearly hysterical- these were tears of laughter. "I am just going to sit here and wait for the locusts to come." I hiccuped in spurts through the hysteria.

﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿Long story long, since Saturday, we have really had a run of T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E. It began when we lost a young doe and her kid on Saturday to freak complications of kidding- I wrote about losing Sapphira in detail already and can't bear the retelling one more time.

Sean broke the ax he needs to split us firewood to feed our only source of heat.

Winter storm, Pluto settled in, stranding my eldest daughter, her husband, and our grand-puppy here for the weekend. While it was wonderful to see them, with everything falling apart around us, it was not the nice, homey visit they'd hoped for. The gale force winds ripped both the tarp and the 2x4's screwedin to secure it, from the roof of the barn.

The power steering belt broke on Sean's vehicle.

Miss Pepper

We woke Monday morning to discover one of our 2 year old does, Pepper, had died suddenly in the night (still waiting for the results to see from what), but coming on heals of losing Sapphira and her kid, it was a shocking blow. To add to the injury, that brought our veterinary bill to just over $500. Don't get me wrong, our vet is worth every penny, but to spend so much and have so little to show for it is frustrating to say the least.

Sean's husky, Fenn, discovered that he can rip through the fencing in the dog yard and made an escape attempt; we located him 3 miles up the road at a neighbor's home. Sean repaired the fence only to have Fenn-dog rip through it again and beat feet through the woods. He was retrieved, but clearly can no longer go in the dog yard until a stronger fence is built. We have a run from the front steps, so we attempted to tie Fenn out to do his "business", but smarter than the average bear, Fenn promptly slipped his collar and you guessed it, headed North. Once again, Sean found him and brought him home, but this means Fenn has to be walked when nature calls.

Then, came the torrential rains that flooded the doe stall requiring them to be relocated to our basement for their safety (The other stalls all remained dry, thankfully.) For those of you keeping track, that makes 4 goats, 2 chickens, 2 bunnies, 6 cats, and 3 dogs taking up residence with us for the moment. What else could go wrong? Oh wait... there is more. The rain, not willing to concede defeat, melted the vast mound of snow against the cellar door and caused pools of water to collect and sit under the pool table and around the kid's basement entertainment area, which needed to be mopped up. And, the dehumidifier decided it does not want to work, either.

The final straw was Sean informing me that he was on his way to the hardware store to buy some glue and duct tape because his power screwdriver disintegrated into parts when he attempted to use it today.

All that is wanting is a plague of frogs or locusts.

I am bone-tired. Weary. Drained. But, I did not sit down today to spin my tale of woe. Now that all of that has been purged, I can get on with the telling of what else is happening here on the farm. Firstly, our vet is coming back out on Friday to do a "farm visit". She is going to do some blood work on the goats and give them a thorough once over. I will feel better for it, all things considered. Secondly, Miss Orpington is nearly fully recovered of her injuries. I am still waiting to return her to the flock for a bit. As you can see in the image on the left, she is healing nicely with no signs of infection, but the protective feathers over her ear canal are still missing. She'll remain indoors a little longer until either the weather warms or her feathers regrow. Also, our Fedco seed order is here, so I can dig in to beginning some seeds for our garden. We'll also have some 6-packs for sale. Lastly, we have had a lovely response to the products we are creating at Lally Broch. This week alone, we sold a set of Lally Broch Scent Shots (Buy Some HERE or enter to Win Some HERE), 5 bars of Lally Broch Soaps (Buy Some HERE), 3 tulle tu-tu skirts, and 2 hand embellished scarves. It's not as much as we hope to sell in coming months and it certainly won't cover the cost of repairs, replacements, or veterinary help, but it is a sign that the days ahead have some light to them.

And, if those locusts do show up, well, I have a whole flock of chickens that would just love that treat.

Thanks for visiting with us today, friends. We're sure glad you did.
Sean and Sonja♥

PS If you haven't signed up for the free drawing to try our scent shots with the free electric warmer, you still have time. We've had wonderful reviews of them and we know you'll just love them, too!

Oh my goodness. You guys have had a terrible time lately. I am so sorry! One quote that I read a while back stuck with me - “Life has many ways of testing a person's will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen all at once.” - Paulo Coelho. Seems like everything is happening at once for you guys right now, but I know you will persevere!

I am so happy to see that photo of Miss Orpington! I didn't even believe it was her at first because she looks so good. You have obviously been taking excellent care of her.

So sorry to hear! I can commiserate. 5 appliances, a toilet and our waterpump broke in 7 months time. I just got back from our other house that we're trying to sell and there's a leak in the pipes and there's a carpet sopping wet. Pair that with payments for two places an old house minus insulation heating bill...and no fun! But....there's so many celebrations we can focus on in teh midst of seemingly disaster. Happy to read your good news from above.

Shoot fire and save matches!!!!!!!!!!!!! Things can only go up from here. I am so happy your scent shots and soap and other creations are selling, they are all fantabulous! I hope you get a good report from the vet.